Abstract: The research of ecological restoration systemsin China is at its preliminary stage， but there are already many misconceptions. For example， ecological restoration， ecological recovery and land reclamation are confused in most cases. Thus， the concept of ecological restoration should be redefined， based on which the basic connotations of ecological restoration could be explored. On the one hand， ecological civilization provides richer connotations of ecological restoration. On the other hand， theoretical research of natural sciences and wide practices of ecological restoration indicate that natural restoration and social restoration are the two basic connotations of ecological restoration. Therefore， both of the aspects cannot be ignored in improving the ecological restoration system， and a fair and reasonable social repair system should be constructed based on the continuous improvement of the existing natural repair system.

Key words: ecological restoration, natural restoration, social restoration